Nanny States and Noisy Neighbors. In some Russian buildings, utilities like heating and electricity are shared costs — one bill divided equally. If a tenant secretly brings in an extra person, or worse, a noisy baby, that cost gets spread to everyone. The more people living there, the higher the collective usage. But since the person isn’t registered, the cost isn’t distributed fairly. People talk. And if someone figures out there’s an unregistered tenant in the mix, they may take matters into their own hands.